A Contrastive Study Between Students’Expectations And Teachers’ Actual Roles In English Class In Middle School

The study on teachers’classroom roles is prosperous from the end of the20th century to the beginning of the21st century in China. Especially after the implementation of the New Curriculum, teachers’roles are attached much more attention. However, the studies are much more from the point of experts, educational theory and teachers than from the view of students. That is, the development of teachers will get limited if the classroom subject-student is ignored. This study aims to probe to the English teachers’classroom roles by contrasting students’expectation and teachers’actual roles. Two questions are included in it:1) What are the differences between students’expected roles and teachers’actual roles performed in English class?2) What are the factors that cause gaps between students’expected roles and teachers’actual roles in English class?This paper aims to answer these questions with the methods of questionnaires, interview and classroom observation.277students of Grade Eight and their four English teachers in an ordinary middle school are chosen as the research subjects. By investigating students’expected roles and the English teachers’actual roles performed in class, the present study is conducted with the purpose of probing the differences between them to make the English teachers have a better understanding of students’ needs. And then through interview to know about teachers’and students’opinions about these role differences, this paper aims to find out factors causing these gaps. What’s more, the author attempts to give some suggestions on how to narrow these gaps in order to improve the teaching quality and enhance the comprehensive development of students.The results of this research are described as follows. Firstly, on the one hand, creator, organizer and promoter are the top three roles that students expect the English teachers to play in class while the evaluator gets the lowest expectation. On the other hand, initiator, organizer and provider are the top three roles that teachers actually performed in English class. And the creator is the bottom role. So when contrasting students’ expectations and teachers’ actual performance, the author finds that only initiator and provider have no significant differences between students’ expectations and the teachers’ actual performance. As for organizer, evaluator, promoter, creator and communicator, there are indeed obvious gaps between students’ expectations and teachers’ actual performance. Secondly, there are internal and external factors that cause these gaps. The main internal factors are teaching reflection and teachers’ practical experience. And the main external factors are school system and teacher training. According to the findings of the research, the author tries to put forward some suggestions on how to narrow these gaps. They are teacher training, teacher’s self-reflection and education system reform.By studying the English teachers’classroom roles, the author is in the hope of helping teachers to have a more comprehensive insight of teachers’roles, so that they can break the inherent ideas and form a harmonious teacher-student relationship. By creating a good classroom atmosphere and a good classroom order, teachers can conduct classroom teaching smoothly and effectively, which will help to improve the English teaching quality and to enhance the self-development of teachers.